To ask what you do if you're self employed?

[Loulzze]

Just that really, I'm curious what you do instead of working for someone

I run my own business teaching various wellbeing classes like yoga.

Are you thinking of setting up as self employed?

Consultancy
Me and DH do different types of Consultancy within our company.
While we do work for clients we choose them and if we dont want to work for them we don’t ( or charge more)

What kind of consultancy if you don't mind my prying? How did you start?

I'd love to be self employed but the initial start up worries me. How did you both transition from working to starting your own business? (if you did)

Journalist. I’m not self employed any more though. Hated freelancing!

I’m a self employed graphic designer - worked from home since dc2 was born 12 years ago. Has worked well for me over the years - no childcare needed and available for school activities/days unwell etc.

Childminder, brilliant job when my own were small. I have loved every minute.

loulzze don’t mind at all
I worked in Sales/Training/ management for big corporates for around 15 years then after I had dd I gave up work for a bit then was asked to do a bit of freelance for someone I knew and I decided there was a business in it. It snowballed from there and I’ve been doing it for about 6 years. I don’t advertise it’s through networking mostly. I do a huge variety of things from one off business analysis or sales training sessions to longer term projects (1 client has me 1 day every week). I also do some relocation work which I love.
DH worked in IT for a large company as well but 3 years ago he left and joined me to do IT Consultancy for various clients ( mostly government). His daily rate is double mine and I only work 2-3 days a week usually
Works really well for us and pays well but of course you only get paid when you work - having a week off at Xmas cost us thousands!
As I had given up my job to have dc it wasn’t a big leap for me as I had zero income anyway, plus virtually no start up costs and ( here’s the biggie) a client already. It was more of a big deal for DH but after many years of corporate land he was ready to do something else, he wishes he had done it years ago

In a self employed carer, specialising mainly in dementia care for the local elderly. I do everything form personal care to chaperoning, cleaning, shopping and sometimes just companionship and offering a friendly face.

I do IT Contracting specialising in integration (basically getting one system to talk to another). Generally I contract to a company for 6-12 months for a project working in a small team providing services to the clients of my client.

So despite being self employed it's not quite so much like working for myself other than having the burden of paperwork for the company.

The key advantage is that there is a lot of remote working, I don't have to participate in any corporate stuff and I can be more flexible with my hours